The Right Man
by Keira-House M.D
Summary: Spoilers to 3x02, Sign of Three. A wedding wasn't really the best place to break off her engagement to Tom, but 'meat dagger' was the last straw for her. Stabbing him with a dessert fork probably didn't help either. She felt guilty - Sherlock, on the other hand, seemed to find it all rather amusing. He was, however, serious in his intention to stake a claim now she was unattached.


**Spoilers up until 3x02, Sign of Three. A wedding wasn't really the best place to break off her engagement to Tom, but 'meat dagger' was the last straw for her. Stabbing him with a dessert fork probably didn't help either. She felt guilty - Sherlock, on the other hand, seemed to find it all rather amusing. He was, however, serious in his intention to stake a claim now she was unattached. Sherlolly - mentions of past Molly/Tom - Background John/Mary**

* * *

Molly tells herself she's content with how she and Sherlock are now.

They've settled back into their previous routine quite well. She gives him body parts, assists in experiments and autopsies bodies. He goes in and out of the lab like he owns it, deducts relentlessly, scares off everyone but Molly, John, Mary, Lestrade, Mrs Hudson and Mycroft, and is his usual brilliant, rude self.

It's different, though. Sometimes he stays and makes (awkward) small talk with her, or asks her thoughts on a particular issue or experiment, usually murder or crime related. He even, very occasionally, asks her how Tom is.

She normally steers him away from _that _particular topic quickly, though if she's feeling bold (and perhaps a little irritated with him) she'll say something more shocking, like telling him that she and Tom are having lots of sex (they're not, it's fairly average - he can tell she's lying, but he never calls her out on it, though sometimes she wishes he would.

He's trying, she knows, more than he ever has before. Trying to show her that she really is his friend. It's a big step for him and she appreciates it immensely.

There is still a tension between them though, and she knows it's her engagement, the ring on her finger that binds her to Tom. Sherlock is used to being first in the lives of those he counts as friends. She's sure the reason he hasn't tried to get rid of Mary (aside from the fact that he really does enjoy her personality and company) is that she truly understands the importance of Sherlock and John's friendship, and is keen to help them maintain it.

Sherlock hasn't said anything to her about Tom beyond brief, inconsequential mentions of him, and he hasn't ever picked him apart the way he always does … the way he did with Jim - no Moriarty.

She's not quite sure about his reasoning, but she thinks he's doing it to be kind, refusing to potentially bias her against her fiancé and ruin their relationship (because she knows it would be ruined, it's what always happens when Sherlock deduces her boyfriends).

If there was nothing wrong with her relationship, Sherlock would have merely deduced out loud, but he's holding something back, which means something is wrong.

She refuses to ask, though. She knows what everyone thinks of her and Tom. He looks quite like Sherlock, and dresses like him too (and inferior version, she thinks, even when she doesn't want to).

Molly really does like her fiancé. He's nice, his parents like her and they could have a happy life together. But she knows a lot of it might be boring. That wouldn't have bothered her before she met Sherlock, but now she knows deep down that she can't settle for someone like Tom when she's used to baffling cases, adventure, excitement and the whirlwind that is Sherlock Holmes.

Yet, despite it all, she stays with Tom. She's braver than she used to be, but she's still scared to break from a steady, good man to pursue Sherlock, who remains enigmatic and whose heart is not easily touched.

He seems sad, when he acknowledges her engagement ring after her day on cases with him. They've had such fun and it has been one of the best experiences she's had. She thinks it might indicate some feeling towards her, but Sherlock is so complex she doesn't want to use guesswork.

She can see him, she is important and she matters. He said all those things to her, and she does believe them to be true. Unfortunately, she doesn't know how far it goes, isn't even sure if Sherlock thinks much (or ever) of romantic love.

Uncertainty plagues her thoughts and prevents her from acting. Then John and Molly's wedding happens.

* * *

Sherlock is the best man and she's terrified at the idea. John is his best friend, no doubt about it, but Sherlock has never done emotions well, and she's scared that not only will he be unable to put his thoughts into words, but that he might end up doing something insulting, like deducing the guests mercilessly.

She's wrong, though. After all her worry, Sherlock delivers the most heart-warming speech she's ever heard him give. Of course, it contains some errors, and Sherlock himself seems at times scared and confused, but the core of the speech, the heart of it all, is beautiful, and Molly can't help the tears she sheds (along with many other guests).

Unfortunately, aside from the almost-murder that occurs, she also has to deal with the embarrassment Tom brings her.

'Meat dagger' is just the last straw for her, and the only words she can manage are a terse "sit down."

Sherlock, thankfully, restrains himself from a full-blown verbal attack in relation to Tom's ridiculous idea, but he cannot hide the absolute bafflement, and slight horror, at Tom's suggestion.

(She has to elbow Greg in the ribs to stop him laughing too hard at Tom's words - after all, it's not like _he _came up with anything much better).

Perhaps Tom doesn't deserve to be stabbed by her dessert fork. Unfortunately, by this time her tolerance for him has fallen to almost zero and she really just wants to get away from him. She's not normally violent, but she just can't help it.

She also doesn't like to hear Sherlock interrupted - and choosing to hear him over her fiancé is probably another sign that the engagement isn't going well.

Everything seems to revolve around Sherlock. When he was away, she worried about hiding the fact that he wasn't dead, and then she found a fiancé who was (she's forced to admit) and lesser version of him. Now, she tries to pretend she's happy with said fiancé, while all the time she seems to compare him to Sherlock, to analyse Sherlock's words and actions towards her and to help Sherlock in experiments.

It's not fair to Tom, whose only crime is to be engaged to a woman who is most definitely not over Sherlock Holmes.

Still, _meat dagger_. She can't think about it without wanting to smack her head against something.

* * *

She doesn't watch John and Mary's first dance for more than a few seconds. Instead, she focuses on Sherlock's playing.

He's played the violin beautifully the whole time she's known him, but she gets to hear it so rarely that she enjoys the chance, especially since he's written the composition especially for the wedding, showing so much thought.

It's her appreciation of the music, she tries to tell herself, not of the man himself. She deludes herself for all of a minute before she accepts the truth.

When everyone starts to move to the dance floor, she dances with Tom. It's expected, it's what she should do. But soon she spots Sherlock leaving the wedding and she knows she has to follow him.

She finishes her dance with Tom, then she pulls him into the hallway and breaks up with him.

It's quick and not particularly painful on her side (she feels guilty about that, so guilty).

He's sad, but he doesn't ask her to reconsider, to take some time to think about the decision. He saw the same thing everyone did when he and Sherlock met for the first time, the similarity. He knows he's the rebound, and she's so sorry she's hurt him that way.

She leaves him with the ring, the one that never felt quite right on her finger, and she goes after Sherlock.

* * *

She goes straight to Baker Street, hopeful that Sherlock will have gone straight there, especially since it's empty.

She thinks momentarily about what sort of state he might be in. She doubts he'll drink again so soon after the (amusing) disaster that was the stag night, but she thinks it might be a danger night.

She doesn't like to think Sherlock will go back to drugs. He hasn't touched them in years, completing his last stint of rehab and getting clean less than a year after she first met him, which was around seven years previously.

Still, it's been an upheaval for him, the wedding, and Mycroft had sent a short text just before the service, writing only that she should keep an eye on Sherlock. It could mean anything, since he could have been referring to Sherlock's tendency towards rudeness, but she's wary as she enters the building with the key Mrs Hudson gave her.

She finds him sitting still, obviously in his mind palace, and breathes a sigh of relief when she sees no evidence of alcohol or drugs, only one cigarette in the ashtray (and she can forgive that, she thinks, considering the stress he's been under).

"Molly," he mutters, "stop thinking so loudly and sit down. It's not a danger night."

She doesn't bother to marvel at his deductions. She's seen some of the things he can do, and this is simple compared to them.  
He opens his eyes and looks at her, eyes immediately going to the hand now bare of Tom's ring.

"That was fast," he tells her, "your ring was certainly there when I left, and you can't have been there much longer than I was to have reached here so soon after me."

"It's been a long time coming," Molly admits, "I never should have accepted in the first place. It wasn't fair to Tom."

"Well he is utterly boring," Sherlock tells her, "squeamish about your job, absolutely terrible with deductions."  
"Oh don't," Molly despairs, "it was bad enough when he said it, but please don't remind me."

Sherlock smirks and laughs a little, "meat dagger. An interesting idea, even if it was ludicrous in the extreme."

She looks closely at him, sees the laughter in his eyes and the twitching corners of his mouth, "you just find this all amusing, don't you," she says, an accusatory tone to her voice.

He shrugs, "it is amusing. Stupid, but amusing. You thought so too, I saw you tell him to sit down. The later, stabbing him with your fork - I've never really seen such violence from you Molly. I find myself impressed."

"I feel awful about that," she admits, "he probably didn't deserve it."  
"Oh I think he did," Sherlock disagrees, "I wouldn't worry about him, he'll find an utterly ordinary girl and have a nice, tediously boring life with her."

She smiles at his words. Underneath the obvious amusement and spite towards Tom, Sherlock is telling her that she's not ordinary, but special. It warms her heart.

They lapse into silence for a few minutes, and Molly starts to wonder if she should leave. Sherlock is obviously pleased that she's no longer engaged, but he hasn't said anything else. She doesn't want to intrude if he'd rather be alone.

She's just made her mind up to go, when he speaks, softly and less assured than normal.

"Molly, did you truly move on, like you told Lestrade?"

She sighs, surprised he can't deduce the obvious answer, though perhaps he wants to be sure.

"You know Sherlock, you saw what Tom looks like, what he wears. I thought I'd moved on, I wanted to, I was sure I'd never get what I wanted. But no, I never really moved on."

"I had a lot of time to think, while I was away," he tells her, faltering slightly, "I've not been kind to you Molly, not before my 'death' at least. I'm sorry for that. I was going to explain when I got back, apologise and talk to you. That's what the day out was about. But you had your ring and I'd messed your life up enough, I didn't want to ruin it more if you were happy."

"I tried to be happy," she admits, "but he was never you, and that is the simple truth."

Sherlock took her hand in his, carefully and almost as if he was nervous, "I don't know if I can ever be what you want or need Molly. I'm not like other people, not by a long shot. I can promise, though, that I will try. I want to try. You've always counted Molly Hooper, and you've always mattered, I was just too blind to see it."

So Molly smiles, leans forward to press a quick and fairly chaste kiss to Sherlock's lips.

She thinks she's found the right man.


End file.
